* 1878 – Erich Mühsam, German author ( d. 1934 )

* 1878 – Aino Kallas, Finnish-Estonian author ( d. 1956 )

* 1878 – John Corry Wilson Daly, Canadian politician ( b. 1796 )

Alexander Mackenzie, PC ( January 28, 1822 – April 17, 1892 ), a building contractor and newspaper editor, was the second Prime Minister of Canada from November 7, 1873 to October 8, 1878.

* Sir Henri Elzear Taschereau – October 7, 1878

* 1878 – Dick Grant, Canadian runner ( d. 1958 )

** Haliotis kamtschatkana assimilis Dall, 1878 – synonym: Haliotis assimilis, the threaded abalone

Prominent leaders include co-founders Lucien Febvre ( 1878 – 1956 ) and Marc Bloch ( 1886 – 1944 ).

* 1878 – Tip Foster, English cricketer ( d. 1914 )

* 1878 – Léon Binoche, French rugby player ( d. 1962 )

* 1878 – Manuel L. Quezon, Filipino politician, 2nd President of the Philippines ( d. 1944 )

* 1878 – Richard Girulatis, German footballer and manager ( d. 1963 )

* George V of Hanover ( 1819 – 1878 )

* 1878 – George Whipple, American physician and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate ( d. 1976 )

* Queen Victoria – the British Weights and Measures Act of 1878 defined it as containing 4, 840 square yards.

* 1878 – Emil Fuchs, German-American attorney and baseball owner ( d. 1961 )

* 1878 – Oliver W. F. Lodge, English poet and writer ( d. 1955 )

* 1878 – Alfred Döblin, German writer ( d. 1957 )

* 1929 – Pierre Fatou, French mathematician ( b. 1878 )

* 1843 – Alice of the United Kingdom ( d. 1878 )

* 1878 – William Merz, American gymnast and athlete ( d. 1946 )

* 1878 – Jean Crotti, Swiss artist ( d. 1958 )

* 1965 – Louise Dresser, American actress ( b. 1878 )

35, written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1878, is one of the best known of all violin concertos.

Anton von Werner, Congress of Berlin ( 1881 ): Final meeting at the Reich Chancellery on 13 July 1878, Otto von Bismarck | Bismarck between Gyula Andrássy and Pyotr Andreyevich Shuvalov | Pyotr Shuvalov, on the left Alajos Károlyi, Alexander Gorchakov and Benjamin Disraeli

Pyotr Ivanovich Kafarov ( Pre-reform Russian: Петръ Ива ́ новичъ Кафа ́ ровъ ) ( Modern Russian: Пётр Ива ́ нович Кафа ́ ров ), also known by his monastic name Palladius ( Pre-reform Russian: Палла ́ дій ) ( Modern Russian: Палла ́ дий ), ( 1817, Chistopol – 1878 ), was an early Russian sinologist.

* Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel ( Peter von Wrangel, 1878 – 1928 ), a leader of the White Army during the Russian Civil War

Soon thereafter the Treaty of San Stefano was revised through the Treaty of Berlin, 1878, signed on Russia behalf by Count Pyotr Shuvalov.

" You may think, my dear Pyotr Ilyich, that I am a great admirer of marriage ," she wrote on March 31, 1878, " but in order that you not be mistaken in anything referring to myself, I shall tell you that I am, on the contrary, an irreconcilable enemy of marriages, yet when I discuss another person's situation, I consider it necessary to do so from his point of view.

* Anna Konstantinovna Knyazeva ( 16 March 1878 Saint Petersburg – 5 February 1920 ); died of typhoid fever, ( m .) 29 April 1898 in Saint Petersburg to Nikolay Nikolayevich Lyalin ( 15 August 1869 – 14 February 1920 ); died of typhoid fever, son of Gen. Nikolay Lyalin, Military Governor of Helsingfors ; their son was the Benedictine theologian Dom Clément Lialine

Andrey Nikolayevich Rimsky-Korsakov ( Russian: Андре ́ Никола ́ эвич Ри ́ мский-Ко ́ рсаков, André Nikolájevich Rímskij-Kórsakov, October 17, 1878 – May 23, 1940 ) was a Russian musicologist and son of the great Russian nationalist composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

* SS Columbus ( 1873 ), an American merchantman converted in 1878 into the Russian cruiser Asia

Russian envoys arrived in Kabul on 22 July 1878 and on 14 August, the British demanded that Sher Ali accept a British mission too.

* 1878 – Yegor Ivanovich Zolotarev, Russian mathematician ( b. 1847 )

* 1878 – Russo-Turkish War ( 1877 – 1878 ) – Battle of Philippopolis: Captain Aleksandr Burago with a squadron of Russian Imperial army dragoons liberates Plovdiv from Ottoman rule.

Kazimir Severinovich Malevich ( see names ) ( 23 February 1879, previously 1878: see below15 May 1935 ) was a Russian painter and art theoretician.

* Pavel Varfolomevich Kuznetsov ( 1878 – 1968 ), Russian painter

* 1847 – Yegor Ivanovich Zolotarev, Russian mathematician ( d. 1878 )

The first recorded launch of torpedoes from a torpedo boat ( which itself was launched from a torpedo boat tender ) in an actual battle was by Russian admiral Stepan Makarov on January 16, 1878, who used self-propelled Whitehead's torpedoes against a Turkish armed ship Intibah during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78.

He was rector of the university from 1875 until 1878, when he retired as Emeritus Professor and received the title of verkligt statsråd ( Russian: действительный статский советник ; literally " state councillor ", a Russian honorary title ).

* April 24 – Russo-Turkish War, 1877 – 1878: the Russian Empire declares war on the Ottoman Empire.

Sofia was taken by Russian forces on January 4, 1878, during the Russo-Turkish War, 1877 – 78, and became the capital of the autonomous Principality of Bulgaria in 1879, which became the Kingdom of Bulgaria in 1908.

Quite some time after 1878 there was a strong will, expressed by Bulgarian committees, to keep the name Sredets, but the Russian administration accepted Sofia.

With the national liberation in 1878, the city, which numbered 26 thousand inhabitants, was ceded to Bulgaria by the Treaty of Berlin ; Russian troops entered on 27 July.

A Russian Orthodox church and a school were built in 1878, but was replaced by the St. Alexander Nevsky Chapel, built in 1918.

The Bulgarian language is also, to some degree, mutually intelligible with Russian on account of the influence which Russia has had on the development of Modern Bulgaria since 1878, as well as the earlier effect of Old Bulgarian on the development of Old Russian.

Political cartoon depicting the Afghan Sher Ali Khan | Emir Sher Ali with his " friends " the Russian Bear and Lion | British Lion ( 1878 )

Fear of Russia's centuries-old southward expansion was a further factor in British policy: in 1878, Britain took control of Cyprus as a base for action against a Russian attack on the Ottoman Empire, and invaded Afghanistan to forestall an increase in Russian influence there.

The United Kingdom took administrative control of the island in 1878, to prevent Ottoman positions from falling under Russian control following the Cyprus Convention, which led to the call for union ( enosis ) to grow louder.

* Zvi Nishri ( Orloff ) ( 1878 – 1973 ), Russian / Palestinian / Israeli pioneer in physical education

Edirne was briefly occupied by imperial Russian troops in 1829, during the Greek War of Independence ; and in 1878, during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878.